Last weekend I took a Gander Mountain Academy 1/2 day Dynamic Focus Shooting class with a .38 Special Ruger LCR. I thought I would share some of what I learned about shooting a snubby in that environment. Maybe it will be helpful to someone considering doing the same or an instructor that has some oddball like me show up with a revolver. I am not a defensive shooting expert, IDPA champion, LEO, trainer, secret service agent, or soldier. Nor do I pretend to be. I'm just an average civilian gun owner who's shot revolvers and pistols off and on for 20 years and decided to get some defensive training. YMMV, IMHO, advice worth what you paid for it, don't try this at home, consider the source, take it with a grain of salt, and all other disclaimers apply.
The course was called "Fundamentals of Concealed Carry". It was a new class offering and still being refined. Gander Mountain teaches Rob Pincus' "Combat Focus Shooting" material though they brand it "Dynamic Focus Shooting". The flow of the class was: classroom, range time w/o holster work, classroom, range time w/holster work. The basics of the material is out there if anyone wants to find it, so I'll not repeat it here.
Although I own and enjoy shooting autos, I've gravitated towards revolvers for defensive use for reasons I'll not go into as it is not important to this post. My point is that I wanted to make sure I was training realistically. For learning a concealed carry draw from holster, that meant taking my LCR.
I was concerned going into the class with a wheel gun. Most every video or article about these classes shows people firing many, many rounds out of Glocks or similar pistols and the instructors teaching auto-specific skills. I was worried about my ability to take 250 rounds of pounding from a revolver that weighs only slightly more than a potato chip. I'd taken my LCR to the range twice before this class. The first time left me with a sore hand and I had issues with short stroking the trigger. The second time I only short-stroked it once and my hand didn't hurt afterwards, but I'd only fired a few cylinders-full.
Enough of my rambling. I did it and here's what I learned:
The LCR: I had no issues with it's function and no issues with me short-stroking the trigger. Our shooting was done in the 9-12 foot range and it was more than capable in terms of accuracy and sighting. It was easy to grasp properly during the presentation; Hogue deserves a nod for the grips. The dimensions are such that I did not have to make any concessions in grip like I have with other small handguns. All that said, it wasn't designed for prolonged shooting sessions and the recoil did start to wear on me. The LCR started to heat up as I shot continuously. It never became and issue, but I can see where reloading could become very uncomfortable if the instructor had pushed us longer between breaks for the autos to reload their magazines. To his credit, the instructor did a good job of showing me revolver-specific skills. I still felt a bit out of place like the only round peg on a range full of squares. (That was a revolver vs. Glock joke)
Capacity: Five rounds goes quickly when the instructor is telling you to engage a target with 2-4 rounds, assess, and engage again with another 2-4 rounds. Hopefully 5 will be 5 more than I'll ever need in bad situation, but it results in a LOT of reload practice in a training class. There were times when I was still reloading while the instructor was giving commands to fire, especially when I had run out of speed loaders.
Ammunition: My previous experience with revolvers and speed loaders told me that sometimes cartridges don't like to fall into dirty chambers. I also did not want to have to deal with leading issues. For these reasons I chose American Eagle 130 grain FMJ for the class. This proved to be a very good choice. I wasn't expecting the AE ammo to be nearly as clean as it was. At the end of the class, I could wipe my fingers across the cylinder and they still came away clean. I ran a bore brush through the chambers midway through, but I'm not sure it was 100% necessary.
Speed loaders: I had 4: 3 HKS and 1 Five Star. It wasn't enough; I still ended up repeatedly reloading from a pocket full of loose cartridges. The knobs on the HKS and Five Stars turn different directions. It didn't prove to be an issue in the class, but it wasn't consistent and added a variable. Next time I'll make sure I have 8 speed loaders of the same make/model or at least function. Occasionally things would go wrong during a reload and a loose round fell to the floor. I just closed the cylinder and stroked the trigger through the empty chamber. I bought an old police speed loader holder for the class. I don't see ever using it for concealed carry, but it worked great for the class. It has two pouches and as I used up those two speed loaders, I would replace them with ones from my back pocket if the opportunity presented itself.
Dealing with fatigue: I mentioned the LCR's recoil wearing on me. The grips are cushioned, but it's still sharp. After 150+ rounds, I felt like it was starting to affect my performance. At the next reload break, I switched to a DA/SA auto without a decocker. Functionally for the class, it was a cocked-and-locked SA auto. This was at a point where we were starting to pick up the pace of our presentations, shooting, switching targets, etc. It was a mistake. Switching to a gun that operates completely differently felt too uncomfortable and uncontrolled. After two magazines, I told the instructor that I had no business handling the auto, switched back to the LCR, and toughed out the rest of the class.
Final thoughts: I'm a lot more comfortable with my LCR now. Using it for the class was a good decision, but for a full day or two day course I'll probably switch to a medium frame service sized revolver with the same functional controls. If a revolver-specific class were available, I'd prefer it to trying to keep up with the autos in high-volume fire. Somehow I don't think that will happen in the 21st century though.
Hopefully someone will find some small piece of value in my overly long first post.
Peace.
The course was called "Fundamentals of Concealed Carry". It was a new class offering and still being refined. Gander Mountain teaches Rob Pincus' "Combat Focus Shooting" material though they brand it "Dynamic Focus Shooting". The flow of the class was: classroom, range time w/o holster work, classroom, range time w/holster work. The basics of the material is out there if anyone wants to find it, so I'll not repeat it here.
Although I own and enjoy shooting autos, I've gravitated towards revolvers for defensive use for reasons I'll not go into as it is not important to this post. My point is that I wanted to make sure I was training realistically. For learning a concealed carry draw from holster, that meant taking my LCR.
I was concerned going into the class with a wheel gun. Most every video or article about these classes shows people firing many, many rounds out of Glocks or similar pistols and the instructors teaching auto-specific skills. I was worried about my ability to take 250 rounds of pounding from a revolver that weighs only slightly more than a potato chip. I'd taken my LCR to the range twice before this class. The first time left me with a sore hand and I had issues with short stroking the trigger. The second time I only short-stroked it once and my hand didn't hurt afterwards, but I'd only fired a few cylinders-full.
Enough of my rambling. I did it and here's what I learned:
The LCR: I had no issues with it's function and no issues with me short-stroking the trigger. Our shooting was done in the 9-12 foot range and it was more than capable in terms of accuracy and sighting. It was easy to grasp properly during the presentation; Hogue deserves a nod for the grips. The dimensions are such that I did not have to make any concessions in grip like I have with other small handguns. All that said, it wasn't designed for prolonged shooting sessions and the recoil did start to wear on me. The LCR started to heat up as I shot continuously. It never became and issue, but I can see where reloading could become very uncomfortable if the instructor had pushed us longer between breaks for the autos to reload their magazines. To his credit, the instructor did a good job of showing me revolver-specific skills. I still felt a bit out of place like the only round peg on a range full of squares. (That was a revolver vs. Glock joke)
Capacity: Five rounds goes quickly when the instructor is telling you to engage a target with 2-4 rounds, assess, and engage again with another 2-4 rounds. Hopefully 5 will be 5 more than I'll ever need in bad situation, but it results in a LOT of reload practice in a training class. There were times when I was still reloading while the instructor was giving commands to fire, especially when I had run out of speed loaders.
Ammunition: My previous experience with revolvers and speed loaders told me that sometimes cartridges don't like to fall into dirty chambers. I also did not want to have to deal with leading issues. For these reasons I chose American Eagle 130 grain FMJ for the class. This proved to be a very good choice. I wasn't expecting the AE ammo to be nearly as clean as it was. At the end of the class, I could wipe my fingers across the cylinder and they still came away clean. I ran a bore brush through the chambers midway through, but I'm not sure it was 100% necessary.
Speed loaders: I had 4: 3 HKS and 1 Five Star. It wasn't enough; I still ended up repeatedly reloading from a pocket full of loose cartridges. The knobs on the HKS and Five Stars turn different directions. It didn't prove to be an issue in the class, but it wasn't consistent and added a variable. Next time I'll make sure I have 8 speed loaders of the same make/model or at least function. Occasionally things would go wrong during a reload and a loose round fell to the floor. I just closed the cylinder and stroked the trigger through the empty chamber. I bought an old police speed loader holder for the class. I don't see ever using it for concealed carry, but it worked great for the class. It has two pouches and as I used up those two speed loaders, I would replace them with ones from my back pocket if the opportunity presented itself.
Dealing with fatigue: I mentioned the LCR's recoil wearing on me. The grips are cushioned, but it's still sharp. After 150+ rounds, I felt like it was starting to affect my performance. At the next reload break, I switched to a DA/SA auto without a decocker. Functionally for the class, it was a cocked-and-locked SA auto. This was at a point where we were starting to pick up the pace of our presentations, shooting, switching targets, etc. It was a mistake. Switching to a gun that operates completely differently felt too uncomfortable and uncontrolled. After two magazines, I told the instructor that I had no business handling the auto, switched back to the LCR, and toughed out the rest of the class.
Final thoughts: I'm a lot more comfortable with my LCR now. Using it for the class was a good decision, but for a full day or two day course I'll probably switch to a medium frame service sized revolver with the same functional controls. If a revolver-specific class were available, I'd prefer it to trying to keep up with the autos in high-volume fire. Somehow I don't think that will happen in the 21st century though.
Hopefully someone will find some small piece of value in my overly long first post.
Peace.
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